Lions yesterday that had the school remained open, there would be "fewer men sitting on walls'' today.

Mr. Davis, who is chairman of the BTI Association, and circulation manager for The Royal Gazette Ltd. added that in many ways technical education has "rarely been appreciated''.

"Throughout the world society has branded such a programme of study for those who are not `academic'. Why has society placed such low-esteem and value on those that design, build and maintain the technical infrastructure of our very existence,'' Mr. Davis asked.

The Bermuda Technical Institute was a technical high school which existed for 12 years. It was located on Roberts Avenue near the National Stadium.

It opened its doors for the first time in September, 1956 and in 1968 it began to go through a series of changes until being phased out. About 800 students graduated from the school.

"Many graduates of the school such as Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess, Cultural and Community Affairs Minister the Hon. Wayne Furbert and chief executive officer of the Bermuda Broadcasting Company Mr. Rick Richardson, are making a difference in the community,'' he said.

"My point is that `the Tech' experiment was a successful one. Had that experiment been allowed to continue, evolve, and advance, perhaps we would have fewer men sitting on the wall nowadays.

"Tech was the best place to be for many of us who needed to be assured that, we too, were OK and were worth something.

"And for many of us it was a combination of being in the right place at the right time with ideal teachers, ideal mentors, and father figures.'' Mr. Davis also said that many generations of young people, both black and white, have not been exposed to motivational and inspiring programmes of technical interest.

"At this point it is important to draw the distinction between education and training,'' he said. "It is the role of any school system to provide a broad and balanced education for all students. It is a system's responsibility to provide a platform of experience that any training provider, whoever that might be, can customise those generic skills into specific skills for the tasks in question.

"The likelihood is that most young people entering the world will have to be retrained at least three times in their working life and at these points they will revert to their generic skills which will then be honed for a different function.'' Mr. delMonte Davis